January 27, 2012

human brain

Arrival
of and countermeasure for the declining birth rate and aging population

Our
country cannot avoid the present situation of a declining birth rate and aging
population. There are many conceivable reasons for the rapid decline in the
population of citizens under fourteen years of age. We cannot forget to mention
the worsening of the global environment as one of the factors. Computers have
predicted that the tendency of a declining birth rate and aging population will
continue even further by the year 2020.

The
number of people who take the abacus official examination is declining. I hope
that the abacus education will diversify itself in order to attract a larger
range of examinees for the official examination by developing a system in which
older people can take the examinations as well.

I
have studied engineering in college and have done some research in polymer
materials. About twenty years ago, I was given an opportunity to conduct
research to develop materials for medicine. In our country that had to suddenly
accept the aging population, there are many patients who were helped by the
drastic development of medical technology and knowledge. National medical
expenses are rising, and I worry about the future with this situation.

Research
for saving patients from terrible diseases and injuries is important, but now
the search for healthy living conditions seems more important to me. Public
Nursing Care Insurance System is now available, but what is most important is
to live a happy, healthy life without having to depend on that system. There is
an old saying that worry is often the cause of illness. Recent medical research
has shown that various diseases are influenced by how the patients deal with
their state of minds. People with active minds maintain their youthful energy
longer. What can we do to heighten our brain activity?

Development
of human brain

What
is the structure of our brain like? How does the brain develop? Cerebral
physiology has seen great developments. However, there still is much that is
unknown about our brain. Our brain is truly amazing. What we know up to this point
includes that the human brain is created at an early stage of embryo
development and that cerebral nerve cells are already made by the time of
birth. Within the brain, the brain stem (all living animals have it, and it
controls the functions necessary for survival such as the functions of the
heart and internal organs) and the cerebral archicortex (which controls basic
instincts such as appetite, sexual desire, sleep, desire to belong to a group,
and emotions such as pleasant and unpleasant feelings, fear, anger,etc) are
basically completed while in the womb.

On
the other hand, among animals of higher order, humans have the highly developed
cerebral neocortex that can create nerve cells (some say there are 14 billion
nerve cells!). This cerebral neocortex does not fully function at the time of
birth. In the following years, suitable stimuli start to activate (to connect
motor nerves and sensory nerves) the nerve cells in the neocortex. This is why
children grow up well in many aspects if they receive appropriate stimuli that
develop the nerve cells in the neocortex. The archicortex is more or less
completed at the time of birth, but it of course can develop even further after
birth. What is important here is that the archicortex requires “to be loved” and
is responsible for the cultivation of aesthetic sentiments.

What
is important here is that the archicortex requires “to be loved” and is
responsible for the cultivation of aesthetic sentiments.

Humans
cannot live without “being loved”. Only those who grew up being loved can learn
to love as they grow older. With the help of a good archicortex, the neocortex
will be activated efficiently. Even with hard work, efficiency will not improve
without cooperation from the archicortex. In order to activate the nerve cells
in the neocortex, information or stimuli from outside the brain have first to
be perceived as “pleasant” by the archicortex. This is when the activation of
the brain improves and the systems to process information in the neocortex are
most efficiently completed. On the other hand, if the information or stimuli
are perceived as “unpleasant”, the activation of the brain does not occur and
the neocortex is suppressed to grow any further.

In
order to activate the nerve cells in the neocortex, information or stimuli from
outside the brain have first to be perceived as “pleasant” by the archicortex.
This is when the activation of the brain improves and the systems to process
information in the neocortex are most efficiently completed.

Move
the fingers and talk in a loud voice

What
does the activation of the nerve cells in the neocortex mean? Nerve cells in
the neocortex consist of 14 billion sets of motor nerves and sensory nerves.
These sets create the network (synapses) in which they contact each other and
make up a living nervous system. The importance lies in how many sets of nerve
cells we can activate in our lives. We can activate the nerve cells by
providing “stimuli”. Moving fingers and talking aloud lead to activation by
providing appropriate stimuli in the large part of sensory to motor domains in
the cerebral neocortex. In this sense, starting abacus learning as young as
possible is useful in activating the brains of young children. However, if
children learn to use the abacus without wanting to do it, there will be no
positive effects. If they come to like learning the abacus and move the beads
on the abacus with fun, they will receive benefits from this experience. There
is a key in making abacus-learning fun for young children so that they will grow
to like it.

Development
of the right brain by the abacus method of mental calculation

The
human brain consists of the right brain and the left brain. The shapes of these
two parts are similar, but differences have been gradually found in their
functions. The left brain is also referred to as the digital brain. It controls
reading and writing, calculation, and logical thinking. The right brain is
referred to as the analog brain. It controls three-dimensional sense,
creativity, and artistic senses. These two work together to allow us to
function as humans. The Japanese are thought to speak Japanese with their left
brain, and this allows their left brain to be more efficient. On the other
hand, westerners also utilize their right brain to learn their languages, so
their right brain is usually more efficient. It is natural that young Japanese
students are better at mathematical calculation than students in western
countries who are the same age. It is also natural that, because of the better
development in their right brain, students in western countries are more
creative and original than Japanese students. In recent years, some have argued
for the necessity of the Venture Promotion in Japan, but in order to foster
this type of environment we need to develop an education system that would
train the students’ right brain first. In addition, it is also found that if
one trains the right brain, it is less likely to get dementia. Here, I would
like to introduce the abacus method of mental calculation. In the abacus method
of mental calculation, the learners manipulate abacus beads in their head to
carry out a calculation. This had led us to speculate that this operation was
effective in training the right brain or the analog brain. Thanks to the
development of cerebral physiology and machines that can accurately measure the
amount of blood flow in the brain, recent studies have proven that the abacus
method of mental calculation is extremely effective in activating the right
brain. This validated the speculation we had before. Therefore, I would like to
ask all the abacus teachers to teach all learners the abacus method of mental
calculation, no matter how briefly it may be. I consider the completion of
abacus learning the mastery of the mental calculation.

Shining
brain

Having
grown up to be workers in various work places and providers for their families
and contributors to society, many people retire from the forefront of the
society and start the second stage of their lives. For these people, it is very
important to live ample and healthy lives. In order to achieve this way of
living, they have to remember to activate their brain as much as possible.
There are many different ways to activate the brain, and one of them is the
calculation with the abacus. In the abacus method of calculation, the abacus is
not only the best way to exercise fingertips, but also positively influences
the right brain to be activated. Although it may take a little more time than
for younger people, activation in the cerebral nerve cells certainly does occur
even at the age of a hundred. In this case also, they have to come to like the
abacus first. Throughout the lifetime there is truth in the saying that you do
well at what you like. A “master of life” is a person who has a cooperation of the
archicortex and the neocortex throughout their lifetime. To become a “master of
life”, we have to always aim high. There is happiness in this process to
achieve the goals of our life. We all shine by pursuing our dreams with high
hope and something to live for. The higher the goal of our growth, the better
our lives are. If the purpose of life is the process to achieve this goal, then
I believe that the abacus education can be one of the significant guidelines
for life. I would like us all to be “life-long healthy people with abacus”.

to
use our brain effectively, we must love what we are doing

(This
article is the summary of a lecture presented in Nikko Kinugawa, Tochigi,
Tochigi prefecture on July 30th, 2000.)